Green Day

Far more than just a band, these Rolling Stone cover boys are pop culture icons. Their addictively simple three-chord songs have appeared in everything from Madden NFL 2005 to feature films like Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me.

Appeal

Despite the opportunities their celebrity affords them, all three Green Day members are serial family guys (at least Billie Joe is). Billie Joe has been married to Adrienne Nesser since 1994 and claims that she is "the only woman [he] will ever love." The Armstrongs currently have two sons. Mike Dirnt is divorced with one daughter, and Tre Cool has been married twice and has two children as well. Fatherhood, and its accompanying responsibilities, has understandably caused the band to restrict their rock 'n' roll lifestyle to the stage.

Success

Where to begin? Over the years, Green Day has collected more hardware than a Home Depot. The band first received mainstream critical acclaim when 1994's Dookie netted them a Grammy for Best Alternative Music Performance. The phenomenal breakout album has since sold over 10 million copies internationally. Green Day again made a splash at the Grammys more than 10 years later in 2005, when American Idiot captured top honors for Best Rock Album.

Some of Green Day's most memorable moments, however, have come courtesy of MTV. The California rockers picked up an MTV Video Music Award in 1998 for Best Alternative Video for "(Good Riddance) Time of Your Life" and they swept the MTV Video Music Awards in 2005, winning seven out of eight nominations. American Idiot has since been certified quadruple platinum and has sold over eight million copies worldwide.

If you don't own one of Green Day's many CDs, you've likely seen them keeping it real on Saturday Night Live and MTV's Total Request Live.

Green Day Biography

Billie Joe Armstrong (born February 17, 1972) always knew he wanted to be a rock star. As a child, the Green Day frontman sang before he spoke and spent much of his formative years beating a Mickey Mouse drum kit into submission. Armstrong came closer to his goal of musical stardom in high school when he formed a band named "Sweet Children" with lifelong friend Mike Dirnt (born Michael Ryan Pritchard, on May 4, 1972).

The pair had originally met when they were only 10 and had formed a close bond thanks to their mutual interest in music. It helped as well that Dirnt was desperate to make a connection -- the son of a heroin-addicted mother, Dirnt had spent much of his life bouncing from one household to the next, especially after his adoptive parents got divorced. By the time he was 15, Dirnt had finally had enough. Putting together whatever little money he had, he began renting a room in Armstrong's house. The pair jammed incessantly and continue to be virtually inseparable to this day.

the new green day

By 1989, the boys added drummer Al Sobrante (John Kiffmeyer) into the fold and officially changed their name to "Green Day," a colorful euphemism for a day spent smoking pot. Encouraged by their success on California's punk scene and newly signed to Larry Livermore's independent label Lookout! Records, the group produced their first EP, 1,000 Hours.

tre cool joins green day

Thanks to Livermore's guidance, as well as their own ambition, Green Day released their debut album, 39/Smooth in 1990. Just as the band seemed to be picking up momentum, Sobrante announced that he was quitting to attend college; Tre Cool was recruited by Green Day in 1990 to take his place. Tre (born Frank Edwin Wright III, on December 9, 1972) was a perfect selection -- in addition to sharing Green Day's musical sensibilities, he had a natural goofiness that kept the band loose. Best of all, he could flat-out play. Tre had played drums for Livermore's pop-punk band, The Lookouts, and brought with him a wealth of experience.

Before long, Green Day was playing gigs around the country and had Tre to thank for it -- or more precisely, his father. Unable to afford a traditional tour bus, the boys traveled from venue to venue in a bookmobile driven by Tre's dad. It may not have been very "punk," but it got them from stage to stage and helped them build up a cult following.

green day releases kerplunk!

Green Day headed back into the studio in 1992 and released Kerplunk!, their second album on Lookout! Records. The album was an immediate independent success, selling an impressive 55,000 copies. Bolstered by a genuine following, the boys took their show on the road to venues in the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, and the Czech Republic.

green day releases dookie

Green Day amicably split with Lookout! in 1993 and signed a lucrative deal with Reprise Records. The band spent much of the following year in the studio recording their next album, Dookie. The release was a huge success, buoyed by MTV airplay and hits like "When I Come Around," which spent seven weeks at the top of the charts. No longer just a cult favorite, Green Day spent 1994 as feature acts at Lollapalooza and Woodstock 1994. Now firmly entrenched in the charts, the boys began to settle down.

green day's families

Billie Joe tied the knot with Adrienne Nesser in the summer of 1994, and Tre Cool followed suit and married his longtime girlfriend Lisea Lyons in March of 1995. Sadly, Tre Cool's union soon dissolved, but not before producing his first daughter, Ramona, in January of 1995. Billie Joe and Adrienne were similarly blessed with the birth of their first son, Joseph Marciano, in March of the same year.

Repeating Dookie's success proved to be a difficult feat for the band. And while 1995's Insomniac managed to sell over two million copies in the U.S., it wasn't the crashing commercial success the group had hoped for. More weddings followed for Green Day in 1996, when Mike took the plunge with his girlfriend Anastasia. While the relationship was short-lived, the couple did have a daughter named Estelle Desiree in April of the following year.

green day releases nimrod

Professional success followed with 1997's Nimrod, which peaked at No. 10 on the charts and spawned the hit single "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)." The band toured extensively to support the album, taking time off briefly in September of 1998 when Billie Joe and Adrienne had their second child, Jakob Danger.

2000 saw the band go platinum again with their latest release, Warning. By 2002, Green Day released their first B-side album, Shenanigans. Tre Cool capped off 2000 by marrying his second wife, Claudia. The couple gave birth to a little boy named Frankito in 2001, but called it quits two years later in 2003.

green day releases american idiot

Green Day had every right to rest on their laurels, but instead they went back into the studio with renewed vigor. The result was 2004's splendid American Idiot. Part punk rock opera and part political statement, the album won Green Day a Grammy for Best Rock Album and returned them to their rightful place at the head of the pop punk movement. Mojo magazine has called American Idiot "the kind of record that sets new parameters as to what is possible from a punk rock 'n' roll band in the 21st century." On a personal front, Mike got married for a second time in 2004, but the relationship soon ended in divorce when he became unable to separate himself from his work.

Next up for the band is the completion of their epic American Idiot tour followed by a film inspired by the hit album. Billie Joe wrote a treatment of the story earlier in 2005 and has since passed it off to be transformed into a feature length screenplay. Look for it to begin production sometime in 2006.